Eating Beets w/ Grimes and Born Gold

    The van with Alberta plates pulled into the driveway, bringing with it rain from Vancouver and Seattle.  Four Canadians got out of the van and stretched their legs.  Our two ducks, Miracle and Le Beouf, waddled by the group confirming that Claire Boucher aka Grimes and Cecil, Eric, and Calvin of Born Gold had found the farm.

    The tour of the farm was brief due to the rapidly fluctuating weather.  We walked quickly to the top of the garden where we entered the greenhouse.  While protected from the sudden downpour of rain, I was able to somewhat describe the components of the farm.  When the rain eased, we left the greenhouse and made our way straight to the goat shed, who were well sheltered and out of the rain.  We five humans crowded in with the four goats and a lot of petting commenced.  Pippie (the little white one) quickly took to Claire and vice versa.  At a certain point food was mentioned and appetites overpowered the cuteness of the goats.  We left them for the warmth of the house and the waiting meal.

    The meal consisted of a rutabaga and shallot frittata made with eggs from our laying hens, a mustard green salad, and delicata squash soup.  As an appetizer, I put out a well received pickle plate consisting of beets, cucumbers, green tomatoes, and onions.  During the meal, we bounced around from topics such as Canada, the artistic process, touring, and what Michael Jordan is up to these days.

    Grimes and Born Gold took off for the Holocene right after the meal and a group picture.  If you have the opportunity to see either of these groups live (especially this tour when you can see them live together!) I highly recommend it.  Born Gold is like the Fourth of July meets a Japanese kabuki performance and Grimes' tendency towards shyness cannot suppress the amount of energy and passion she brings to her performance.  I left the show both energized by the amount of creativity and talent as well as tired from so much dancing at such a late hour (I have to let the birds out early in the morning, to me midnight is ungodly late).

    Thanks again to Grimes and Born Gold for participating in the Farm to Artist project.  Be sure to listen to the podcast when it is released this coming weekend.  To hear the album Bodysongs from Born Gold you can go to their website.  You can find more information about Grimes at her website or pick up her new album, Visions, through Arbutus Records or 4AD.